An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Zote

by Friedrich Kluge

Zote, feminine, ‘obscenity,’ Modern High German only; of obscure origin, but certainly a loan-word. It is most probably connected with French sotie, sottie, ‘obscene farce’ (in the carnival plays obscenity is the main element), French sottise, ‘abusive language, indecency,’ from French sot, ‘blockhead,’ Spanish and Portuguese zote, ‘booby.’ With these are connected Italian zotico, ‘coarse, uncouth’ (compare Italian zotichezza, ‘coarseness,’ zoticacco, ‘uncouth, clownish’; they are not derived from Latin exoticus (Latin x is never equivalent to Romance z). Compare further Anglo-Saxon and English sot, Dutch sot, and Irish suthan, ‘blockhead,’ sotaire, ‘fop.’